Is this the fabled National Match brass? I am used to seeing military brass with the LC43 stamp or something similar...

Elk

Give us a little better description of the headstamp. And, I'm not sure what you mean by "fabled". 06 NM ammo is quite ordinary.

To save a little time, if the headstamp is FNM it is either Portugese or Mexican ammo. If it is something else give us a description of the headstamp.

Ray

The headstamp on national match ammo normaly reads like LC NM 65 note the spacing between the groups

Yeah, I guess "fabled" was typed in jest and sarcasm. I watch people run around acting like a .308 win is such a powerful round, and then hear all the Rambo talk about National Match brass, and I get sick of it.

The brass I have is simply FNM- no caliber designation, nothing.

Portugese (SP) i thing.

The initials "FNM" are used by military aresenals in both Mexico & Portugal. On .30-06 ammunition, most likely the source is Mexico, especially if the headstamp is otherwise "cluttered" with the cartridge designation and other extraneous information / ornamentation. The Portuguese loadings tend toward having minimalist headstamps.

Forgive me if the spelling is but IIRC, FNM stands for Fabrique Natonale Mexico. derf

More like FABRICA NACIONAL deMUNICIONES for Mexico, and FABRICA NACIONAL deMUNICOES for Portugal.

Thanks guys! I Now I know I can toss the brass!

Heck it is still good scrap and worth a fair bit as scrap! derf

Yeah, yellow brss is worth $0.55/lb at the moment

AllanD

.80/lb out here Allan, but then we are darned near a third world country! derf

Ya, but isn't .80 Can only only worth .40US?
Actualy I haven't been paying attenation to the exchange rate lately (hell, it still surprises me that it isn't the 1.04C=1.00US that I grew up with, and nobody got real concerned about which currency was being used to make a purchase)

maybe exporting used FNM brass back to its country of origin would be profitable ?

My headstamp book by Horn has it as "FABRICA NATIONAL DE MUNICIONES DES ARMAS, LIGEIRAS,LISBON"

Fat_Albert - there are stylistic differences and with .30-06, the Portuguese did not load military ammo where the Mexican government did.

Iconoclast: What do you mean by "stylistic differences"? Have you seen 3584elk's case? When you say the Portuguese did not make military ammo, do you mean the manufacture or the country of Portugual, and how do you know this? Did their army buy their ball ammo from some other country ( Montenegro or Tibet)?

lets stay calm people - no fighting please , this is a friendly forum for the dissemination of information amongst interested parties.

F-A , you might want to rephrase your question into a more enquiring manner , maybe...?

All that I am saying is where are these facts comeing from.

Most military headstamps and manufacturers are recorded and documented , particularly those who make "western" world ammunition. As to where that information is found , there are a variety of publications ranging from single pagers up to complete tomes written about ammunition makers and making.

30-06 in particular has several very good referance works - Jerry Marcellos "30-06's we have seen , vol.1 and 11" would be one of the best - and many of those who post here specialise in those military calibres. And because those guys post here , others of us who dont have as comprehensive a library ask questions seeking advice from those guys who have the knowledge .

I suggest that the tone of arecent posting may make providing of that information less likely to happen , and maybe there is a lesson in this for all of us to be polite ( and sometimes I aint...) and friendly if we want any sort of help in the future.

There are any number of other forums were fighting and aggression is the accepted behaviour . Cartridge collecting is about sharing information , not fighting over it, so lets try and keep this forum user friendlyand leave the aggression outside.Just my thought for the day , for what its worth.....

F_A
Here is a hint, according to Brassey's book, covering the years 1950-1975, he identifies the G3 and the CETME as the Portuguese rifle and the G3 and HK21 as their LMGs. ALL of these are designed around the 7.62NATO cartridge, not the 30-06, so there would be no need for the Portuguese arsonals to produce 30-06 ammo.

Unless you have a weapons referance that shows them using a different weapon (chambered for the -06) prior to 1950, than it would be safe to assume that they never made military 30-06 ammo.